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My first two weeks as a full-time freelancer

My first week of freelancing is in the bag and the second just started. I had a very clear goal when I decided to take this path. I wanted to earn a certain amount of money immediately and I wanted to be up and at ’em by 6 AM.

LOL.

I’m an idiot.

I forgot the main reason why I made this move in the first place! And that was to improve the quality of my life. So how did it go? Overall, not bad.

Sleep

This was more of a challenge than expected. I wasn’t falling asleep until around 2 AM and I started the week getting up at 9 and baby stepping backward. By Friday I was a hot mess. This man-boy blogger needs his sleep and I was running on 4-5 hours and having to take a nap in the middle of the day, absolutely squashing my productivity.

Earnings

I almost hit my weekly goal. Which was sweet. However, it was a struggle. I started off hot, had a bad day, had two phenomenal days, then by the end of the week I was fried.

I was pushing myself way too hard. I was focused on earnings and not on my life. I took Sunday off and decided to have a little self-reflection time. I reminded myself why I’m doing this and what matters the most to me. It’s not money.

So I decided to come up with a new plan. Taking two days to reverse my sleep schedule was absurd and a completely unrealistic goal. Focusing on how much money I was earning right off the bat was just a bad move.

What should I have been thinking about? I’m glad you asked!

My quality of life

This is the reason that I do every single thing that I do. I have no kids and no wife/so/gf/whatever the hell the term is these days. Everything I do is completely selfish in nature. How does that break down?

1. MEMEMEMEMEMEMEME
2. Fuck you.

The quality of my work

I kicked out some writing and some editing this week. Went pretty HAM. However, I had too many articles coming back for edits. This got on my nerves and slowed me down. So this week I’m concentrating on quality. I want everything that I do to be the best that it can be.

I’m confident that focusing on my life and the quality of my work will lead to increased speed and increased pay. I’ve got money saved, there is no point in worrying about it right now. No one has mastered any skill or job in the period of a week. No one. Ever.

Setting unrealistic goals for myself was setting myself up to fail.

And that was just plain dumb.

Week two

So here I am at the end of the second week. I took two days off this week. The first was to go hang out with the BFF and my godsons, who are an absolute joy. All three of them.

You know that feeling you get when you come home from an amusement park? You’re physically exhausted but the happiest you’ve been in a long time?

That’s what it feels like to visit them. I suppose it’s a testament to how much they mean to me.

Unfortunately, I also had a family member pass away last weekend. The funeral was on Thursday. It was a lovely service and I think my Grandmother received the send off that she deserved and would have wanted. She was a huge part of my life while she was alive and she’ll continue to live in my heart after her departure.

I would like to say that normalcy is on the horizon, but it isn’t. The BFF, aka Mama, is getting married this weekend (again). It’s a bona fide frugal wedding, so I’ll be helping with food and some other preparations.

The upside?

I worked when I wanted. I didn’t stress about money. I handled everything that I needed to.

All in all, it was a good week. I lived my life exactly the way that I wanted to.

As far as the experiment goes, week 2 was a clear winner. I didn’t make as much money but I also didn’t care. I had more important shit to deal with and I know the money will be there eventually.

For now, I’m taking my time and enjoying the life that I have and the people in it who are worth loving. Unfortunately, there is one less person around to get it.

Conclusion

My grandmother grew up during The Depression. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in the 40’s. She and my grandfather owned multiple businesses and rental properties throughout their lifetime. They were pf bloggers before pf and blogging were even a thing. They worked hard and set their children up for success. I’m very proud of both of them. If an afterlife exists, they’re finally together again.

So if anything, I suppose I’m not just proud, but happy for both of them. They were soulmates who were apart for way too long.

That’s it for today. Go forth, readers. Love the people who are worth your time. Enjoy each and every day at the amusement park of life. You never know when it’s going to shut down for good.

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Comments

I really enjoyed your insight – as the world of freelance is 100% foreign to me. Intriguing thoughts running through my brain. Are you finding work on those job board sites? Or is this a real contract gig?

Sorry to hear of your grandmother’s passing. What a fascinating and fulfilling life she must have lived to do PF before PF was defined.

This was an interesting read. I would like to learn.more about how you got the gigs. I’m not looking to do any freelance writing. I can barely keep up with my own content. Just tbought it would be good to know.

First, I’m sorry to hear about your grandmothers passing. She sounds remarkable. Second, congrats to BFF. A frugal wedding. How fun! Lastly, life (and writing) are all about the edits. When I first started, I was annoyed my first drafts weren’t accepted right off. Now, I don’t except anything to be approved without a billion comments from a dozen reviewers. Try to not take it personally. Yes, it’s partly you learning a new craft. Some of it is power trips from higher ups. But I’ve learned that many people want to be creative, want to be a writer. They meddle because they may find more joy in writing then their real job. Whatever it is, freelance writing is all about the edits. And as you’ve learned so is life. I’m so glad to hear you course-corrected so quickly. It’s always a rollercoaster and you should rarely say “no” to new opportunities but sleeping your days away is a huge perk of the job! Welcome to the club!

Oh, the edits themselves don’t bother me. It’s the bonehead mistakes that bother me. Things I would have caught if I had taken my time and been a little more thorough. I love and appreciate everyone who takes the time to edit my work, even if they are paid for it. Heh.